Tag: Isaac

Who is Your Father?

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Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!”
Genesis 21:9-10 (NASB)

There is a story in the Midrash that paints a sweeping narrative that creates context for these two verses. It starts back in the previous chapter, when Sarah is taken by Abimelech.

So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Genesis 20:17-18 (NKJV)

Remember: the healing that happens in that chapter is related to childbirth.

Based on this childbirth-related healing, and then the birth of Isaac in chapter 21, the rabbis suggest that rumors began to spread. Perhaps this son of Sarah is no son of Abraham, but instead is a son of Abimelech. The timing is right, and clearly, Abimelech’s wife and “female servants” are all pregnant.

While we, the readers, are told that God prevented Abimelech from touching Sarah, who knows if the people in the story, to include Abraham’s whole entourage, believe it?

And most importantly, does Hagar believe it? She has witnessed Abraham and Sarah’s frequent deception first-hand.

So the rabbis say this: “the prattle of children reflects what they picked up from their father or what they picked up from their mother.” If Ishmael is “mocking” Isaac (and not abusing, per another interpretation of the story), perhaps the mockery is this: “Everyone knows Abraham is my father. Who is your father?”

And Sarah, hearing this, would know that these are Hagar’s words, and that Hagar would be making a clear statement about inheritance: Only the son of Abraham should receive any portion of Abraham’s blessing and wealth.

Perhaps this is why Sarah declares, “the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!”

Fountain of Youth

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And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”
Genesis 21:7 (NASB)

There is a teaching in the Jewish commentaries that say Sarah experienced a reversal of age and literally became a young woman again in order to give birth to Isaac and to nurse him until weened.

In this chapter, when Isaac is born, only Abraham’s age is referenced.

Whether Sarah literally became a youthful woman again (so beautiful that even a Pharaoh would find her desirable!) or not is immaterial. It changes nothing. However, in some ways, she did experience something that’s only possible for younger women – to give birth, and to nurse a child until it is weened.

In contrast, Abraham appears to remain old in every way.

A Mother’s Instincts

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Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!”
Genesis 19:9-10 (NASB)

It’s difficult to understand why Sarah is so upset in this story when you read the English. Most translations render the word צִחֵּק (tsichek) to show Ishmael “mocking,” or “making fun of” Isaac.

But Sarah’s reaction is based on something much more concerning.

Up until this moment in scripture, nearly every instance of this word was in the Qal, or basic form: “laughter.” Abraham laughs, Sarah laughs, Isaac’s name is יִצְחָק (Yitzḥaq), and it’s the causitive form of this same word, so it means “to make laugh.”

But in Genesis 19:14, the word changes form.

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is destroying the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be joking.
Genesis 19:14 (NASB)

Here, tzachak becomes *tzichek.*

Lot’s sons-in-law think he is “joking” about the cities being destroyed. The context shows they didn’t take him seriously, so they didn’t go with him. That’s a proper use of this form of the word.

Is this what Sarah sees Ishmael doing to Isaac? Does she Ishmael just goofing around and gets annoyed by it?

If instead of looking backwards to Genesis 19, we instead look forward for the use of this word, it gets dark, quickly.

The next two times the pi’el form of this word shows up in Genesis, it carries a sexual connotation.

Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.
Genesis 26:8 (NASB)

She called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make fun of us; he came in to me to sleep with me, and I screamed.
Genesis 39:14 (NASB)

After that, it shows up in Exodus, and it’s connected to both sexual activity and idolatry. This passage describes the people in front of the golden calf.

So the next day they got up early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to engage in lewd behavior.
Exodus 32:6 (NASB)

The final time it shows up in scripture is with the story of Samson, when he’s led out to “entertain the Philistines.”

It so happened when they were in high spirits, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.
Judges 16:25 (NASB)

And this makes me wonder how Samson is actually being treated here. It’s very likely that he is naked for their amusement. For their pleasure.

If we read Sarah’s reaction to be tied to this forward view of tzichek, the picture is much more concerning. Perhaps we are meant to see that Sarah believes Ishmael is going to do something terrible to her son.

So she does what any mother would do.

Translation Commentary

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She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael Depart

So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.
Genesis 21:7-8 (NKJV)

Some Bible translation include their own commentary by way of section headings. The NIV and the NKJV both include a “Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away” header, but this shifts the focus and loses the story.

The entire point of this bit is that a very old woman is nursing a child!

Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”

And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac.
Genesis 21:6-9 (NASB)

The NASB inserts “Sarah Turns against Hagar” after verse 8, keeping the nursing and the weening segments together, but then it breaks up the *laughter* from v6 from the connected laughter in verses 9 and 10.

The story is much clearer without the section headings.

The Firstborn Son

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Do you remember the time Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, but God prevented him from dying and promised that he would be a great nation?

No, not Isaac. I’m talking about Ishmael.

Abraham knew sending Isaac and Hagar out meant their death, but God spared them.

Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael.
Genesis 21:9-11 (NASB)

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. And of the son of the slave woman I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.”
Genesis 21:12-13 (NASB)

Sarah’s Miracle

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Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
Genesis 21:1-3 (NASB)

Back in Genesis 12, God made a promise to Abraham, but a careful reader will note that the birth of Isaac is not Abraham’s miracle. He can sire children, as we see with Ishmael.

This is Sarah’s miracle. She was barren.

Genesis 21 puts the spotlight squarely on her.

Caught in a Lie

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Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife;
Genesis 20:12 (NASB)

When you read this plainly, it appears that Abraham and Sarah are half-siblings. However, the Hebrew is full of people using familial words to describe both close and more-distant relationships.

Much later, we’ll see that Jacob refers to his “father Abraham,” but he is talking about his grandfather, so this feels legitimate.

Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
Genesis 32:9 (NASB)

So is Abraham really being honest here?

In a previous post, I said Sarah is described oddly at the top of the chapter; we can link the Abraham->Sarah relationship with Israel->Ark, where the ark is merely being used for victory. A stolen blessing.

Look closely at this next instance of misrepresentation to gain a blessing…

Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Come now, sit and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.”
Genesis 20:19 (NASB)

Conception

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But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?”
Genesis 20:4 (NKJV)

The text is very clear that Abimelech didn’t sleep with Sarah. Why is it so important to mention it here, while keeping it vague back in Genesis 12, when Pharaoh takes Sarai?

The rabbis say that this serves a very important purpose.

Based on the timeline, this encounter in Gerar is near the time Isaac should be conceived.

By drawing attention Abimelech’s words AND by reinforcing them with God’s own words (“I didn’t LET you go near her!”), nobody in the story can question if Abraham is the father.

Furthermore, the Tze’enah Ure’enah states the following to reinforce this!

The explanation is that the Holy One brought it all on the household of Abimelech that they could not give birth to children, could not urinate or defecate. All of their bodily orifices were stopped up. Even a hen could not lay an egg. It was hoped that Abimelech would understand and notice that his sin was because he had taken Sarah as a wife.
Tze’enah Ure’enah on Genesis 20:4:1

The Story of the Woman

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But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Genesis 17:19 (NASB)

There is something so sneaky and subversive about the way Genesis talks about women, you miss it if you read it too quickly.

For starters, while Abraham is the “father of our faith,” the story about the miraculous birth is really Sarah’s story, not Abraham’s.

Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child.
Genesis 11:30 (NASB)

Remember, the inability to have children wasn’t Abe’s problem. He was able to have a son with Hagar, which meant he was perfectly capable of having children.

But Sarah was barren, and there is a sense of grief and desperation that surrounds her.

Though she is abusive towards Hagar, she reacts from a place of hurt and shame. It isn’t excusable, but it is understandable. She feels diminished and small, but God elevates her and changes her name.

The thing is, the name change for Sarah seems a bit subtle. Some translations (the NASB, for example) say that the words Sarai and Sarah are the same, but just in different dialects. But most translation commentaries state that going from Sarai to Sarah is going from “my princess” to “princess,” so there’s at least a sense of enlargement or increase in scope of her princessly responsibilities, whatever those may be. But what is a “princess,” exactly?

As it turns out, it has nothing to do with being the “daughter of a king,” but it does have everything to do with royalty and authority.

Both versions of her name are the feminine version of a word that means ruler. Chief. The one in charge. The shot caller.

I. prince, ruler, leader, chief, chieftain, official, captain
1. chieftain, leader
2. vassal, noble, official (under king)
3. captain, general, commander (military)
4. chief, head, overseer (of other official classes)
5. heads, princes (of religious office)
6. elders (of representative leaders of people)
7. merchant-princes (of rank and dignity)
8. patron-angel
9. Ruler of rulers (of God)
10. warden
Strongs: H269 (שַׂר): sar

Now, if you have gender-roles and leadership expectations in your head that precondition you to place a man in higher authority than a woman, you might think that Abram was wrong for listening to his wife in Genesis 16:6, but consider Genesis 21:12. Who tells Abraham to listen and heed his wife? It is God.

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.
Genesis 21:12 (NASB)

And actually, any statement about the consequences of men “listening to women” fall rather flat when you realize that nothing Eve said was wrong back in the Garden of Eden. Look at Eve’s words!

The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Genesis 3:2-3

Perhaps Adam should have listened more closely, actually.

Sarah is elevated from being royal leadership with Abram to being royal leadership with Abraham: the leadership and authority tied to the father of nations. She is, in a way, wisdom, personified.

By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
Proverbs 8:15-16 (NASB)

(In Hebrew, “by me” can also be read “with me.” It’s a connective preposition.)

And to make it even more clear how much Sarah is elevated, God says it twice in one verse!

I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Genesis 17:16 (NASB)

So blessed!

And why not? God made it clear that the Son of the Promise will be through her. Yes, through Abraham, but *also* through Sarah. Because God does not view her lower than him, or higher than him, but with him.

And that’s how it is meant to be.

God is my Help

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But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Genesis 15:2 (NIV)

Abram has a servant named Eliezer. His name is a compound word, comprised of El (God) and ezer (help). It means “God is my help.”

This is the same servant who later will find a bride for Isaac.